Tea Leaves Guided Reading Realistic Fiction 680L Written by Frederick Lipp and illustrated by Lester Coloma KEY IDEA Shanti lives in the tea leaf covered mountains of Sri Lanka with her mother and has never seen the ocean that surrounds her island home. This picture book tells how she achieves her dearest wish, a visit to the sea, and what happens when she returns home. Session 1 Text Selection: pp. 3 11 key idea: text selection In this selection, readers meet Shanti, a young girl who lives in Sri Lanka, and her mom, who picks tea leaves for a living. One day in school, Shanti listens to a seashell and becomes very interested in learning all about the sea. Session Learning Focus/Standards Students RL.4.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Comments for future instruction: = demonstrated/articulated X = not demonstrated/not articulated Previewing the Text 5 minutes Let s look at the front cover of this book. Based on the title and illustrations, what do you think this book will be about? Read the back cover quietly to yourselves. What details support your impressions of the cover? READING the Text CLOSELY What have we learned about the main character of this story so far? Who would like to share? In stories, characters deal with different problems or challenges. As we read today, let s pay close attention to the details that tell about a big event or challenge in the text and how the Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 1
characters react to it. Then let s think about how this reaction contributes to the overall plot of this story. Who will share what you learned on pages 3 to 5? How does Shanti react to this problem? Our work as readers today is to continue to think about the relationship between how the characters respond to challenges they face and the overall plot of the story. I wonder what will happen now that Shanti has gotten her good wishes for the day. DISCUSSING the Text Before we continue our discussion, let s review paraphrasing. Who can share what this is? Let s begin by paraphrasing another challenge or problem a character faced and how he or she responded. Who would like to try? That s good paraphrasing of parts of this text. How does Shanti react when she realizes this? Authors often use comparisons to make their writing more vivid. One type of comparison is called a simile. In a simile, the writer uses the word like or as to suggest similarities between two items. In this simile on page 7, what two items does the author compare? Who has ideas on what similarities these two items share? So does this help us understand something about what Shanti heard? You did a good job identifying Shanti s challenges so far. As you continue reading, remember to keep describing challenges and the different ways the characters respond. 2 Tea Leaves
Tea Leaves Guided Reading Realistic Fiction 680L Written by Frederick Lipp and illustrated by Lester Coloma KEY IDEA Shanti lives in the tea leaf covered mountains of Sri Lanka with her mother and has never seen the ocean that surrounds her island home. This picture book tells how she achieves her dearest wish, a visit to the sea, and what happens when she returns home. Session 2 Text Selection: pp. 3 11 Session Learning Focus/Standards Students RL.4.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. RL.4.6* Describe how the point of view of the story s narrator impacts the telling of the story (e.g., establishes understanding of one point of view over others) and the effect it has on the reader. RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Comments for future instruction: = demonstrated/articulated X = not demonstrated/not articulated Returning to the Text 5 minutes Let s quickly review our discussion from the last session. Several of you found good details in the text to support this review. Reading the Text CLOSELY We learn about challenges and the characters responses to challenges through a narrator. Who is the narrator in this story? Does anyone have an idea? Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 1
The author of this story uses a third-person narrator, which means that the narrator is not a character in the story. Notice that this narrator focuses mostly on Shanti s thoughts, actions, and interactions with other characters. For example, we don t know what Amma is doing when she is not with Shanti, but we know what Shanti is doing when she s not with Amma. Today, as we reread, let s think about how this point of view impacts the telling of the story and our response to it as readers. Let s also make connections between the text and the illustrations. Let s reread page 8. How does the narrator describe Shanti? What do you think about the narrator s language and tone here? Does the illustration on pages 8 and 9 reflect the text? Who has thoughts about this? DISCUSSING the Text As we talk today, remember to support your thoughts by paraphrasing evidence from the text. I d like to hear about how the narrator describes a challenge Shanti faces. That is one challenge Shanti faces in this part of the story. How does the narrator describe her mom in this part? Who can add more about Shanti s mother? That s a good observation. What can we learn about Shanti s mom from her reaction to Shanti s questions? Based on the narrator s description, the dialogue, and the images, how do we as readers feel about Shanti s mother? Do you remember our earlier discussion about similes? A simile is a type of comparison that an author might make to enhance descriptions. Remember, a simile includes the word like or as. What two items does the author compare in this simile? How are these two items similar? What does this comparison help you understand? We ve talked a lot about how the author uses a third-person narrator s point of view to tell about the challenges the characters face and how they respond to them. We ve also discussed how the illustrator supports the text by highlighting details from the story. How does identifying these relationships help us understand this book? Does anyone have some thoughts to share? 2 Tea Leaves
Tea Leaves Guided Reading Realistic Fiction 680L Written by Frederick Lipp and illustrated by Lester Coloma KEY IDEA Shanti lives in the tea leaf covered mountains of Sri Lanka with her mother and has never seen the ocean that surrounds her island home. This picture book tells how she achieves her dearest wish, a visit to the sea, and what happens when she returns home. Session 3 Text Selection: pp. 12 33 key idea: text selection Shanti asks her mom for money and permission to travel to the sea. When her wish is finally granted, she enjoys exploring and experiencing the ocean. Session Learning Focus/Standards Students RL.4.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. RL.4.6* Describe how the point of view of the story s narrator impacts the telling of the story (e.g., establishes understanding of one point of view over others) and the effect it has on the reader. RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Comments for future instruction: = demonstrated/articulated X = not demonstrated/not articulated Returning to the Text 5 minutes We ll be reading the rest of Tea Leaves today. Let s pick up where we left off. Shanti s reactions to hearing about the sea at school progressed the plot line because she began to ask questions about it. How does our understanding of this help us read the story? Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 1
Reading the Text Today, we will continue to pay attention to the relationships among plot events, character responses, and narrative and illustrative points of view. Let s read pages 12 to 15. Who would like to talk about another plot event that unfolds in this section? How does her uncle respond? Who can add to this? Who can explain the challenge this presents for Shanti? Discussing the Text Let s talk some more about the relationship between the narrator and the illustrator. You ll work in pairs. One of you will read aloud a text detail from page 27. Your partner will point to the matching part of the illustration on pages 26 to 27. Who would like to share a text detail you identified? Are there details in the matching illustration that do not come from the text? Would you know what a tuk-tuk is if you didn t see the picture? What else does the narrator tell us on this page? Remember to paraphrase the story as you discuss character responses to major plot events and the effect of the narration on both you and the story. Why do you think it s important to pay attention to these relationships? 2 Tea Leaves